Unfortunately This was as far south as we would go. Definitely need to come back and go down further.
Was a bit of a slow start the next morning due to missing brain cells, but we eventually got away and began our trek north through the cactus fields, stopping along the way to check out a few of the sites.
Got pulled up at a Military checkpoint and asked if we had any drugs etc and while the Guns were a bit disconcerting they were good blokes and happily posed for a pic.
The roads were once again glorious.
The Fuel stops were a little dodgy
Sam reckons she has never been surrounded by so many pricks.
In Rosario, We pulled into the world famous Mama Espositos restaurant, where we feasted on steak and lobster and wine all for the princely sum of $10ea. Mama has recently passed away but we had a lovely chat with her daughter who now runs the place.
She reminded me so much of my mum and she nearly made me cry when she whispered to me that I must to come back and see her again. Was a nice moment.
The race was then on to get to our over night stop at the Pirate hotel of Camalu.
Did I tell you the roads were Glorious?
The pirate hotel at Camalu was cool.
We looked just like Romeo and Juliet
Another great feed and awesome sunset, but was marred by a couple of loud mouth Americans who thought it was funny to be obnoxious and rude to the waitress who was clearly distressed.
I was very tempted to punch one in the mouth, but he soon he got the message and left. Dickhead loudmouth Americans. Not like us sophisticated Aussies.
The Margaritas were good though.
We retired to our luxurious Honeymoon suite soon after.
It was a pretty cool place , even if it was only half finished.
Our destination today would be Enjido Erindira and the Hostel known as Coyote Cals, which would be our base for the next few days whilst the Baja 1000 was in progress.
The hostel was great ( although the Owner was a bit Schizophrenic) and we were booked in to the Crows Nest, which offered 360 degree views all from the comfort of our bed.
Was brilliant to wake up to this spectacular view.
Calm yourselves ladies.
It was nice to look down on the plebs camping i the sand.
We quickly dropped our bags off then scooted up the Highway to Ensendada to take in the pre start festivities of the Baja 1000
Was reminiscent of our trip to the Dakar in 2013. The locals go nuts over the Baja, Many drive round in ex race cars or Pre runners as they are known.
Music, food, Cars, bikes, Beer, girls in skimpy suits everywhere. Whats not to love? Was like paradise for us.
.
Buzz wanted to take this home
We spent hours wandering around stalking Aussie Dakar legend Toby Price but to no avail. He was obviously avoiding us.
Passed Robbie Gordon. Slow arrogant prick he is
After we had taken in all we could it was time to head back to Cals. The plan was to take the dirt road which was actually part of the next days race course.
We headed back south to Santo Tomas, where I promptly took the wrong road. ( who says ya don't need a GPS in Baja) and led us on a 30 klm trek down a good dirt road but in completely the wrong direction. Was a nice ride though.
We ended up in a farmers cabbage patch, so I decided to do some ploughing to help him out.
After finding our way out of the cabbage patch we came to a dead end locked gate with a security guard who was adamant that we were not getting into the Concrete Plant and no the road didn't go any further south. Least that's what I think he was saying. And now its starting to get dark. Would it Kill them to put a sign up saying no through road? . Fuckers.
Eventually a guy comes along in a ute a says yes there is a track. Follow me. Of course we did and he led us through a fully working concrete Quarry complete with massive dump trucks to nasty looking deep sand twin track that looked like it hadn't been used in several years. It was now fully dark and we decided discretion was the better option we thanked him kindly but decided we had no option but to back track to 30 klms back to the highway and get on the right road.
I'm blaming Buzz he had the only GPS with mapping that worked and he could have seen we were on the wrong road but didn't. Fuck its hard to get good help.
So back track we did into the darkness. Upon reaching Santo Tomas again we concluded that although it was dark the road we needed was actually on the map as opposed to the road we had just traveled an as we didn't have any trouble on that road we should be right. Right??
Wrong !!
What we hadn't taken into account was that this road is actually part of the race track and for the part month had been used by the competitors pre running the course to make their notes and learn which way the road goes.
It had been torn to shred by the 800 hp monsters and was a deep rutted silt filled rock garden and we had no place being on it in the middle of the night on totally unsuitable bikes. Especially 2 up.
But wheres the adventure in that. We got sucked in by the first bit which actually wasn't too bad, but it soon deteriorated. It took us 4 hours to travel the 100 klms and Sam and I had 2 crashes along the way. Fortunately nothing serious, but we did break one of the panniers off. Zip ties to the rescue.
We eventually made it back to the hostel to be greeted by the hostile owner who wanted to know where we had been and why we had missed dinner.
I basically and politely told him to fuck off. Strange character is old mate at Cals. One minute nice as anything next thing angryman. Perhaps he is bipolar or something.
His wife was much more accommodating and whipped us up an awesome Thai meal. ( Her being Thai n all)
We basically ignored him anyway and set about ordering tequila slammers to help us over our ordeal.
Next day and its race day. We selected our positions on the pachio whilst Sam got a lovely Thai massage and waited for the First of the bikes to arrive. And waited and waited.
WE were pretty pissed by the time they got there, but it was worth the wait.
These guys were racing for more than sheep stations.
The cars were Spectacular to watch.Fuck me these things are awesome. Over 800 hp with suspension that is worth more than my house. Average cost of the top running cars is 1 million bucks.
We had the best time taking pics and whoopin and Hollerin.
Tried to scam a GIZAGO in this but to no avail. LS1 motor in the back with Aussie made Transaxle
Sometime during the day I met Cruz who owned this house, right on the course.
Cruz is a Mexican who actually lives in the states.
He asked me where I was from and when I told him couldn't believe we had come just to watch this race. We became instant best friends and he invited us into his place for an Asada (mexican BBQ) and more beers
Sam became instant best friends with his gorgeous wife Angela and their kids.
The neighbors made us pizza
What a view from his pachio and the race goes straight past.
We had the best afternoon. Drank 4 billion beers of which Cruz would not accept a cent for. His neighbors came over with more food and we drank 2 billion more beers.
Sometime into the night we all piled into his truck and went down to the river bed and watched more cars come through.
Had to help modify one by pulling the bonnet off.
And then we all drove home drunk straight past the police road block. They didn't give a shit. Was an epic time.
Sadly the next day we missed saying our good byes to Cruz and Angela as they had left before we got up. They have our details and I really hope they make contact. Such an awesome family
(edit He has since sent me a message and we have made contact which is so cool. Cant wait to catch up with them again.
We made our way back to Ensenada, stopping into the tourist town of La Buffadora to by some Souvenirs and Cigars. We didn't bother parking up and simply rode down the street behind some dude in a race buggy. Just seemed like the right
No idea why we need a Mexican rug, but this guy was adamant that we had to have so who was I to argue.
And the Box of Cuban cigars was 10 bucks. Would be about a hundred at home. result !
Yes I think that is spinach on Sam's tooth.
Couldn't find any accommodation in La Buffadora. so we booked into a flash resort back in Ensenada, which coincidentally was where the Speed racing team of Robbie Gordon was staying.
Dinner that night was a Salubrious affair.
Check out the pics of our dinner. Was delicious.
And then back to the work bench for some rest.
Next morning a dip in the Jacuzzi, before a delicious breakfast complete with Mariachi band.
I love a good Mariachi band me, but it needed a midget to be more authentic.
Poor blokes had no idea what to make of me.
Didn't see Robbie cause he is a big Dick and wouldn't come out of his room, but a couple of the team members gave us an awesome tour of the race cars including his Gordini Dakar racer.
Was pretty cool.
We decided to spend another night in Ensendada and spent the day checking out the sights and a delicious free meal nearby winery courtesy of the Mexican tourist bureau. No I don't why either, but we didn't complain.
We spent a few hours watching a few of the backmarkers finish.
We also spent a few hours wandering around trying to find Aussie Dakar legend Toby Price but to no avail. I think he was trying to avoid us.
Then it was back in town for Pizza, Margarita, dancing waterfalls and more Tequila slammers.
The dancing fountains were pretty cool. After getting kicked out of a strip club (Sams fault no women allowed) we retired to a bar for more tequila
We had a great time in Ensenada. Its amazing the sights you see.
Our last day in Mexico was spent cruising up the spectacular coast to Tijuana.
All the while I had this feeling that someone was watching over us.
Tijuana was a shit fight. We basically rode straight through and then spent a couple of hours trying to get across the busiest Border crossing in the world. The promised wall hadn't been started yet.
Took us a couple of goes to get in the right lane and we would probably still be there if not for the help of a friendly bike rider, who told us to follow him.
Easy for him with no panniers to worry about. We did our bit for the local smash repairs businesses by putting several dents in cars. Its the least we could do.
Eventually we made it to the crossing, where we learnt that getting out of Mexico is much harder than it is getting in.
We coped the 3rd degree, but that was noting compared to Buzz who was carted off to an interview where apparently they did all manner of Nasty things to him. ( eventually he was release and whilst I thought he may have been walking funny, he assured us they only wanted to know why his bike wasn't registered. ( it actually was but he didn't have the plates yet)
And back into the good ole USA we went.
Part 4 next.